This is great, because on July 28th, I have people coming out to visit me in Japan. So hopefully by the time they are here I'll be all done with finals. That way I can play host, instead of just sending them off into the city all by themselves.
Japanese is already threatening to kick my tail this semester. See, because we are at school here in Japan, there are tons of different level language classes. I was in Japanese 2 last semester, and so I have now moved on to Japanese 3. Easy, right? Well, not so much. There was also Intermediate Japanese 2, and some of the kids from that class decided to go into Japanese 3 this semester instead of Intermediate Japanese 3. They know a lot more vocabulary than I do, and it makes trying to keep up with what is being said in class difficult at times.
Because this semester is starting to look like its going to be hectic, I've decided to combat it by setting goals for myself. In Japanese, for example, I plan on studying the vocabulary and kanji for each chapter the weekend before we begin the chapter. That way, I'll better be able to improve my reading, and understanding of the material during class. Another goal for me this semester is to start getting up early. I'm usually a pretty early riser anyway, but towards the end of last semester I kept on hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock. It's important for me to get up before I need to start getting ready because I don't really feel awake until about half an hour after I'm up. The other side to this, of course, is that I need to go to bed early. Which is becoming rather difficult now that I have internet in my room.
My last goal is the one I want to concentrate on for the rest of this blog post. It has absolutely nothing to do with school, but I still think it adds to my experience here in Japan. I want to learn to cook more Japanese food. See, I have a kitchen in my apartment here, so often I make things that are very Western in taste. But, if I'm going to live in another country, I need to have something to prove my stay! So, I've decided cooking is a useful skill that I can show off when I get back to the states! I've been trying to make more Japanese-style lunches too (referred to here in Japan as bento).
All this boils down to the fact that I've been eating a LOT more rice! Which, I'm starting to acquire more of a taste for. So far, I've made a bunch of onigiri. They've turned out better than I thought. See, I tried when I was in high school to make onigiri once and it was a pretty poor attempt. Partly, because I didn't like the nori (seaweed wrapper) that the onigiri is served in. But, I bought one in the store a while back to determine whether my tastes have changed, and discovered they have! So, I bought the ingredients and have been making my own. I think they're a bit fatter than the ones here in the store, but I'm sure I'll get better with practice! I'm also starting to get creative, and trying to come up with tasty fillings to add to the middles. So far, I've done a bunch of tuna and mayo ones, which were super tasty.
I've also made omurice (which is fried rice wrapped inside an omelet . My first attempt has made me aware of the fact that I need to learn how to best fry rice. Anyway, here are the pictures of the attempt. (I know! Actual pictures in the post!)
That brown stuff you see on the plate is my attempt at a sweet teriyaki sauce. Usually, this dish is served with ketchup, but I don't have any. Because, I usually don't use ketchup for much in cooking. Maybe I'll have to buy some for my next attempt??
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